A Darkness Absolute (Casey Duncan #2)(127)

A shiver slides down my back. “How? Hypnosis?”

She stares at me and then bursts out in a laugh. “You really are well drugged, aren’t you? We talked while I was watching Nicole. He doesn’t like me much. He thinks I’m weak. I can tell. You fascinate him. Old story, huh?” Her lips tweak in a smile. “Don’t worry—I won’t harp on that. But we talked about you. Or I did. That’s all he needed.”

She adjusts her position on the bed. “That’s all it takes, isn’t it? To get people to do what you want. Understand what they want. He knew I wanted to help after you’d been shot. I wanted to get Nicole back, too. I wanted you to take down that sick bastard. Mathias convinced me he could help you do that, safely. Which he did, right? Mathias rescued you.”

“Not exactly.”

That same semismile. “I’m kidding. I’m sure you rescued yourself, as always. But he would have, if you hadn’t.”

“And now?”

She settles back. “Now he’ll get Nicole for us.”

“And her kidnapper? Do you know what he plans for him?”

“Nope,” she says. “I don’t care. Neither should you.”





SEVENTY

It’s been two days since Mathias and Benjamin disappeared. Two days of scouring the forest from before dawn until after dusk. We’re all out there, hunting. Me, Dalton, Anders, the militia, Brent, Jacob … even Cypher just “happened” to bump into us and agree to join the search in return for more coffee and creamer.

I haven’t spoken to Diana since I called her into my room. What she did could have gotten me killed—horribly. If I hadn’t shot Benjamin, there’s no way of knowing whether Mathias would have arrived before Benjamin cut my spinal cord. But Diana is convinced Mathias was watching over me, and that’s all she needs to justify what she did.

She can say it was for me, but she also said coming to Rockton was for me. You don’t make life-altering decisions for a friend. You just don’t. I keep looking for ways to redeem Diana. Redeem her or condemn her completely. It isn’t that easy. It may never be that easy.

I’m tramping through the forest with Dalton. We set out on sleds to expand the search area, and now we’re on foot, hunting for prints in pristine snow. He has one glove off, hand wrapped around mine.

What happened two days ago hasn’t done anything to ease his fear something will happen to me, and he’s hanging on even tighter, sticking closer, not sleeping well. We’ll deal with that. For now, if this helps, I’ll leave my glove in my pocket, hold hands and let him know, in that small way, that I’m safe and I’m not going anywhere.

We round a stand of trees and see Mathias pulling Nicole on a makeshift toboggan. I break into a run, and Dalton doesn’t drop my hand—won’t drop it—just holds tighter and runs with me.

“She is fine,” Mathias says, in English, as we approach and see Nicole lying motionless on the toboggan. “Her captor was not kind to her, nor as careful as he was before, but she is fine.”

I still drop beside her and check. She’s sleeping soundly, bundled tight, her face bruised. I reach for the back of her neck. That’s all I can think about, seeing her so still—what he threatened me with. But there’s no damage there, and when my cool fingers touch her neck, she moves, just enough so I know she’s fine.

I rise. “Where’s Benjamin?”

“I have no idea. He escaped from me. I knew we were in the area where he put Nicole, so I decided to search for her rather than pursue him.”

Dalton nods. “Okay, first priority is getting her back to town. Tomorrow, you’ll come out with us and show us where you found Nicole.”

“That’s the problem, Eric. I do not remember where I found her.” Mathias rubs a gloved hand over his face. “It is so cold, and I have been out for two days, and I did not prepare properly. I have been eating snow for water, and I have not slept, and my mind … It may be hypothermia. It may be lack of sleep. I cannot think straight, and I did not pay attention to my surroundings.”

“That’s fine,” Dalton says. “You’ve left a decent trail. I’ll follow that. Casey will take you back—”

“Is that safe?” Mathias says. “I am disoriented. Casey is wounded. Nicole is unconscious. And there is a killer roaming the forest, one who wishes revenge on all of us.”

I glower at Mathias. Diana’s right—he does know exactly what to say. There’s no way Dalton will leave me now. He says we’ll come back tomorrow and pick up the trail, and we head to Rockton.

*

It’s night. Nicole is resting comfortably. We’ve talked. This time I was absolutely certain she’d want to get on a plane out of Rockton at first light. But she wants to stay. Her father ran, and trouble pursued, and all the running did nothing but screw up her life. So she is determined to stay and fight, even if what she fights now is only her fears. Sometimes, that’s the greatest threat of all.

If she changes her mind, Dalton will sneak her out of Rockton and accept whatever consequences that brings. It’s what we have to do for now. Hope that no one is forced to leave, no one who might pose an exposure threat, not until we know what happens when they go.

While Dalton and Anders deal with other issues, I go to the butcher shop, where I find Mathias cutting up rabbits.